50 BIRDS OF A MARYLAND FARM. 



III.— VERTEBRATE FOOD. 

 POULTRY AND GAME. 



Crows. — Certain species of the larger birds were found to take ver- 

 tebrate food. Crows and some of the hawks and owls destroyed useful 

 small birds and also game and poultry'. On the Hungerford farm 

 crows were observed killing newly-hatched turkeys, and on the Bryan 

 farm they were not uncommonl}^ seen carrying off little chickens. 

 The most serious offense against the poultr}^ interest, however, was 

 the habitual stealing of eggs. During April, 1900, a crow came every 

 day and robbed a hen's nest in the side of a hayrick at a little distance 

 from buildings. Often he would be seen waiting on a fence near by 

 until the hen announced that the egg had been laid, when he would 

 dash down and make off' with his booty. Such depredations could be 

 avoided by furnishing the hens with such facilities that they would no 

 'longer la}' in exposed situations. As it is, incessant war upon the 

 crow is necessar}' to prevent heavy loss to poultry on this farm. Game 

 birds also suffer. On Ma}' 15, 1900, a crow was caught on the forested 

 slope beyond the swamp (PL VII, fig. 2) in the act of pillaging the 

 nest of a ruffed grouse. Crows also despoiled the nest of a bob white, 

 a species which probably suffers oftener than the ruffed grouse. 



Eagle. — The bald eagles that are frequently seen at Marshall Hall 

 do not disdain to pick up a little game now and then. Early in March, 

 1897, a crippled scaup duck was seen in the river a hundred yards 

 from the house chased by an eagle and diving every time its pursuer 

 swooped down on it. AVhen the quarry was almost tired out the eagle 

 was shot, and fell into the river with a broken wing, but it had suffi- 

 cient strength left to lacerate a pointer that attempted to retrieve it. 

 On November 15, 1900, an eagle was seen ffying over the house gripping 

 in its talons a live coot, which turned its head rapidly from side to side 

 in its struggles to escape. During the hunting season eagles get a 

 good part of their food by picking up wounded ducks. They also 

 prey on domesticated ducks. In the first week of August, 1896, they 

 carried off several ducklings that went down to the swamp. The 

 royal brigands relish chicken, and in the nest of one pair thac came to 

 the farm was the carcass of a recently k'Aled Plymouth Rock hen. 



Cooper Hawk. — With the exception of the English sparrow, the 

 Cooper hawk (fig. 19) probably does the least good and the most harm 

 of all the birds of the farm, for it subsists almost entirely on wild 

 birds and poultry. It very frequently steals little chickens, and con- 

 stantly preys on the bobwhite and useful insectivorous or seed-eating 

 small birds. During November, 1900, the bobwhites were so j)erse- 

 cuted that they were seldom found far from cover. In one instance a 

 hawk was seen to swoop to the ground and rise with a victim, the 



